Subsidy scam suspect denied bail over ‘criminal history’

One of the suspects of fuel subsidy fraud, Oluwaseun Ogunbambo, was on Wednesday refused bail by a Lagos High Court in Ikeja due to his history of unresolved criminal allegations and his multiple identity.

Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo ordered that Ogunbambo be remanded in Ikoyi Prisons pending the determination of the case. He said the trial would be given an accelerated hearing.

Onigbanjo said the evidence adduced by counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Messrs Rotimi Jacobs and Mr. Francis Usali, was sufficient enough to deny the bail.

Onigbanjo said the most compelling grounds for refusing the bail were “his multiple identity and his propensity to get multiple passports each time one was seized.”

The court also hinged the decision to deny him bail on “previous and unresolved criminal allegations”.

Onigbanjo said the suspect’s criminal history had “cast a huge question” and doubt on his claim that he would not “take flight” and be available to attend trial.

Jacobs, while urging the court to refuse the bail, said Ogunbambo had a criminal record of obtaining separate loans of N230m and N430m from Stanbic IBTC Plc in 2010 with forged document.

Jacobs said Nigerian and British passports were seized from him in 2010 when he was granted administrative bail during his investigation for the alleged crime.

“He was invited and released on bail but jumped bail and that has stalled the trial since 2010,” Jacobs said.

Meanwhile, Ogunbambo’s counsel, Mr. Babajide Koku, had asked the judge to grant bail to his client, promising that the accused person’s passport would be deposited with the court.

But Jacobs rejected the argument on the grounds that seizure of the accused person’s passport was no longer sufficient to guarantee his attendance to trial.

He said, “The EFCC is still in custody of his two passports – British and Nigerian – but he is still travelling out the country.

“Even if he deposits a passport with this court, this will not guarantee his presence because he will go and get another one.

“He uses different names and changes names as he likes.

“In the UK passport his name is Benson Oladayo Adetokunbo Shobowale. But in this case, he is Oluwaseun Ogunbambo.”

Apart from using forged documents to obtain loans from the Stanbic Bank, Ogunbambo was also said to have been caught with cash at an Irish airport, a matter which he said was still under investigation.